Asus teases Mjolnir power station, other ROG accessories that give us Marvel vibes
"Not an April Fools' joke," the company says
Asus has been teasing some seemingly Marvel-inspired ROG accessories on its social media over the past few days — specifically, what looks to be an outdoor power bank named after Thor's legendary hammer, Mjolnir.
IT'S REAL GAMERS!Can you guess what feature we're gonna add to complete your gaming experience? 👀Stay tuned for more during #ROGComputex2024!#ROGMjolnir⚡ pic.twitter.com/NbSCRYdJzDApril 2, 2024
There are no details aside from a couple of pictures, but the ROG Mjolnir looks like it's probably a portable outdoor power station given that it's got four power outlets (along with two USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, and... a USB-B port? Does anyone need USB-B for charging?) on the front. It also has a digital display that shows remaining power/battery life and a handle because it's, well, a hammer.
It appears to have a grille on the side, and the display shows an audio icon, so perhaps this is also a portable Bluetooth speaker. (Or maybe that's just a vent for the heat a portable power station of this size would inevitably emit. Or maybe it's both.)
Asus posted a different image, which appears to show the other side of the ROG Mjolnir, on its Facebook page on March 31. This side looks like it has some input ports, so, yeah, this is probably a power station. There's no word on how much an Asus ROG-branded outdoor power station named after Thor's hammer might cost, but considering the display looks like it says 768W, we expect it'll probably be upwards of $600. The perfect way to complete your off-the-grid gaming setup!
This isn't the first time Asus has taken inspiration from Nordic mythology (Asus loves Thor), but we think this is actually more Marvel-inspired than anything. Asus also posted an image of another accessory in its March 31 Facebook post, which seems to be designed after Captain America's shield:
As for what this is, we're not sure. It looks like it could be a speaker (or part of some sort of speaker setup), but some of my colleagues also think it could be a mesh router. Or a frisbee stand. Or all three! (Probably not all three.) What do you think?
Asus has not provided any information on these upcoming products — except to assure that they're "not an April Fools' joke" — but has said to stay tuned for more info at Computex 2024, which will take place June 4 - 7 in Taipei, Taiwan.
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Sarah Jacobsson Purewal is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware covering peripherals, software, and custom builds. You can find more of her work in PCWorld, Macworld, TechHive, CNET, Gizmodo, Tom's Guide, PC Gamer, Men's Health, Men's Fitness, SHAPE, Cosmopolitan, and just about everywhere else.
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Giroro "Marvel Inspired" Is exactly the kind of timely and trendy gimmick I would expect from a company who's still using X (formerly known as Twitter).Reply -
rostrow416 I'd imagine the USB-B port would be used to connect to a PC so that it could receive battery/power data from it.Reply -
Notton I also suspect the USB-B is for battery data.Reply
They can use a regular USB A-to-B cable, instead of something custom, like the RJ45 to USB-A that APC uses.